Cost

Hard bid pricing is a standard in the building industry that after several years in decline appears to be making a come back. In a hard bid situation, multiple contractors take the same set of plans and specifications and at the end of the bid […]

While designing a recent commercial project I ran into a new situation (for me). The project is a mixed use commercial / residential project comprised of a steel framed lower level commercial area below an elevated concrete slab with timber framed multifamily construction above. Because […]

I received a question from a reader of EVstudio.info. He asked: “Does it cost more to build two stories vs one story?” The answer is that it really isn’t that simple. A two story house should cost less for these simple reasons: Land Cost. If […]

EVstudio works on a wide variety of projects and over the last several years, the desire to expand door openings in several of our project types have led to some very expensive products. One of the companies we keep in close contact with for residential […]

We get this question a lot. People who are planning their dream homes often don’t know where to start. A large part of our discussion in our programming meetings centers around how much home you can afford and if your program is in alignment with […]

With tighter urban site designs we frequently discuss the option for structured parking. Its an attractive option for creating a walkable urban environment and it also makes great economic sense when land becomes expensive. The first question is always, “What does a parking garage cost”. […]

This week marks the third time in as many weeks that I have been asked to observe the foundation in a historic Denver home and found that the wood main floor framing is supported by wood posts that bear directly on soil floor of the […]

I just received this data regarding current market data for lumber and OSB for the first quarter of 2010. The graphs pretty much speak for themselves. As you can see, the days of the lower cost building materials appear to be largely behind us, with […]

In a continued effort to offer timely information on construction cost for a variety of building types (see also cost of commercial construction per square foot and Cost Per Square Foot of Educational Facilities), I did some research on another project type that we frequently design: Community Centers. […]

We are regularly updated on various construction costs by RSMeans, the leading resource for construction cost estimating in North America. This week’s cost data is on Masonry Cement (ASTM C91) by the bag. Cement is the binder in concrete, and therefore, a primary ingredient in concrete, mixed […]